Protect lives of fishermen, says wife of Keralite killed by Italian marines

Steps need to be taken to protect the life of fishermen when they put out to sea and ensure such incidents do not recur, Dora told.
Italian marines Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre (Photo | PTI)
Italian marines Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre (Photo | PTI)

KOLLAM: The wife of one of the two fishermen killed in firing by Italian marines onboard Enrica Lexie off Kerala on Friday expressed happiness over the verdict of the International tribunal in the case and said steps should be taken to ensure such incidents do not recur.

Dora, wife of Valentine Jalastine, also thanked the Central government for pursuing the case all these years.

Jalastine of Kollam and Ajesh Binki, a fisherman from Colachel in Kanyakumari, were killed when two Italian marines on board'Enrica Lexie oil tanker fired at them on February 15, 2012.

The Hague-headquartered Permanent Court of Arbitration Tribunal had on Thursday also upheld the conduct of the Indian authorities in the Enrica Lexie case in which the marines were accused of killing two Indian fishermen in 2012 and said New Delhi was entitled to get compensation in the case.

But the tribunal also ruled the marines cannot be prosecuted due to the official immunity enjoyed by them.

Dora said she was happy with the verdict, though it has come after eight long years.

Steps need to be taken to protect the life of fishermen when they put out to sea and ensure such incidents do not recur, she told PTI.

Jalastine was the sole breadwinner of the family, when he was killed, Dora said adding she had to face immense hardships to bring up her two sons -- Derrick and Jeen as a single mother.

Derrick was 18 then and Jeen in the fourth standard.

She also had to take care of her aged parents.

Fortunately, the state government gave her a job in the Fisheries department and she managed to bring them up and provide good education to them, Dora said.

Twentysix-year-old Derrick, who has completed his Mechanical Engineering, is appearing for various Public Service examinations, hoping to give relief to his mother.

Jeen is awaiting his higher secondary examination results on July 15.

"With a lot of difficulties I gave them education. My responsibilities are not yet over", Dora said.

She had bought a piece of land utilising the compensation amount given soon after the incident and construction of a house will soon commence.

The Tribunal had also held that the marines had violated the international law and as a result Italy breached India's freedom of navigation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

India had accused the marines-- Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre of killing the two fishermen who were on a fishing vessel off Kerala coast in India's Exclusive Economic Zone.

Though detained after the shooting incident, they were later allowed to return to Italy on specific conditions following separate orders by the Supreme Court.

Italy had maintained that the marines aboard the tanker mistook the fishermen on board 'St Antony' to be pirates.

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